Security forces stationed at school campus amid Iran protests

A group of Iranian filmmakers condemned the crackdown on protests and said dissent was a basic civil right, according to a joint statement released on Thursday.

“We condemn the suppression of people’s protests under any pretext. Protest is the natural and civil right of every human being,” the filmmakers said.

They said firing on unarmed protesters was unjustifiable. “Shooting at people who have come into the streets with empty hands is a crime against the right to life and has no justification,” the statement said.

The filmmakers said organized corruption, the looting of public wealth and fear-based ideology had pushed people into poverty and despair, while national resources were lost in regional conflicts.

“We will portray these days and these wounds, defend freedom of expression with all our strength, condemn the suppression and killing of protesters, and stand with the people of Iran,” they said.

The statement was signed by prominent figures including directors Jafar Panahi and Asghar Farhadi, along with actors and filmmakers from across Iran’s cinema community.

Iran is witnessing the broadest strike and protest movement in the Islamic Republic’s history, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi said on Thursday, saying the protests showed Iranians would no longer accept despotism.

“A free and democratic Iran will be built through unity and solidarity and in cooperation among all people,” she wrote on Instagram. “The people of Iran are building a different Iran together, an Iran in which we will see less suffering and more joy.”

Ebadi said the solidarity seen across society was a lesson for future political movements that Iranians would no longer submit to autocracy.

British lawmaker Tom Tugendhat said on Thursday that corruption could widen divisions between Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the country’s regular armed forces.

“It is only a matter of time before the gap between the IRGC, the mafia guards of the Islamic regime, and the army is made wider by the rampant corruption in the Guard,” ex-Security Minister wrote on X.

He added that Iran’s conventional forces had not benefited in the same way. “The Iranian army, navy and air force have not enjoyed the same access to the profits of crime,” he wrote.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, known as the IRGC, is a powerful military and economic force in Iran and operates alongside the regular army.

Iran does not want war but is prepared for it, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday, responding to what he described as growing threats from Israel.

“We do not want war, but we are ready for war,” Araghchi told reporters on arrival in Lebanon.

“Our region is facing serious challenges, and the threats that are directed at the region, specifically from Israel, have never been as great as they are today,” he said.

Araghchi said Iran was in contact with countries across the region. “The Islamic Republic is in consultations with all countries in the region, and my trip to Lebanon is taking place at an important time,” he said.

On the possibility of talks with the United States, Araghchi said negotiations could begin under certain conditions. “Whenever the Americans accept that negotiation is different from dictation, talks can begin,” he said.

Darya Safai, an Iranian-born member of Belgium’s parliament, told Iran International that exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi’s call for protests at 8 p.m. on Thursday and Friday would be decisive for Iran’s future and what she described as a national revolution.

She said people had already shown they want a secular government, adding that many Iranians see Prince Pahlavi as a symbol of unity and believe his historical background gives him legitimacy to lead a transitional period.

“The Islamic Republic has reached its end point, and after 47 years the Iranian nation is ready for a final battle. Forty-seven years of rule by the Islamic Republic was a historical mistake, and the Iranian nation is rewriting its own history.”